BLOG ASSIGNMENTS: ENGLISH COMPOSITION I
Please visit this page to read the writing prompts for your weekly blog assignments. Your blog posts should be at least 500 words. Feel free to explore multiple literacies, genres, and media: video, audio, photos, etc. Also, please link to appropriate sites within the post. For example, if you mention a class reading, link to the reading from my website. Finally, please write an introduction that contextualizes your post for your readers (and yourself). Unless otherwise noted, blog assignments for daytime classes are due at 11:59 pm on the Sunday before our Tuesday class -- and blog assignments for nighttime students are due at 11:59 pm on the second Wednesday (8 days later) after the prompt is reviewed in class. *Blog assignments are subject to change.
Need help creating a Weebly blog post? Please review these links:
Need help creating a Weebly blog post? Please review these links:
Week 1
Blog Assignment #1
Blog Assignment #1
- Blog Title: The Proust Questionnaire
- Blog Category: Identity
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your first blog post when the deadline is provided.
- Please read The Proust Questionnaire and Marcel Proust Biography
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides a link to The Proust Questionnaire.
- Copy and paste the questionnaire into your blog post.
- Answer each question in a few sentences. Feel free to skip any questions you consider too personal to share with the public.
- Here is a student sample of this assignment:
Week 2
Blog Assignment #2
Blog Assignment #2
- Blog Title: Creating my Multimodal Website
- Blog Category: Multimodal
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your second blog post when the deadline is provided.
- Print out, read, and annotate these texts:
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides links to the four readings.
- Write a 450-word response to these questions:
- Why are we creating a website for our English Composition I course?
- How do Ball and Charlton define "multimodal" writing?
- Do you agree with Ball and Charlton when they claim "all writing is multimodal"?
- As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the five modes on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each mode ranking.
- What does the C.R.A.P. acronym stand for?
- As a web site author who will create your own web page content in this course, how would you rank the importance of the four C.R.A.P. principles of design on a scale of 1-5? Please provide a brief rationale to support each design principle ranking.
- What are the seven sample criteria Borton and Huot suggest writers use to assess a multimodal composition?
- Do the Borton-and-Huot criteria seem similar or different from the criteria we would use to assess a traditional print essay? Why or why not?
Week 3
Blog Assignment #3
Blog Assignment #3
- Blog Title: A Letter to my Author-Self
- Blog Category: Identity
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your third blog post at the end of week 3:
- Print out, read, and annotate this text:
- Please read these texts as needed -- so you can build your genre awareness of letters-to-self:
- 5 Reasons to Write a Letter to Yourself (and How to Do It)
- 3 Ways to Master the Power of Empathy in your Writing (Karen Hertzberg)
- How to Write a Victim Empathy Letter (Jayne Thompson)
- 3 Perfect Examples of How to Write an Apology Letter (Karen Hertzberg)
- A Motivational Letter to Myself (Jenna Terek)
- My Breakthrough Moment: Writing a Letter to My Younger Self (Kayla Matthews)
- Write a 50-word introduction that connects the theme from A Fable for the Living to your own letter.
- Write a 450-word letter that includes the following:
- A greeting to author-self: Dear [insert your author-self name]
- A metaphor that shows the relationship shared between you and your author-self. Use this passage as a model:
- "Do you know what it feels like? Shall I describe it for you? It feels like the two of us got on a boat together, and the deck tossed me into the water, and you went sailing away without me. Thrown overboard--that's how it feels."
- An apology, empathy statement, or motivational language to connect with your author-self
- Three-step plan to interact with your author-self on a consistent basis for the rest of the semester.
- A closing: Sincerely [insert your name].
- Click here for a video explanation of this blog assignment.
Week 4
Blog Assignment #4
Blog Assignment #4
- Blog Title: Writing Process Roundtable
- Blog Category: Writing Process
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your second blog post at the end of Week 4.
- Print out, read, and annotate these texts:
- Write a 50-word introduction that explains the focus of your blog post and provides links to the three readings.
- Use description to set a scene for a writers' roundtable discussion about the writing process.
- Provide 3 quotes about the writing process from each reading. A total of 9 quotes. Remember to attribute the writer by inserting his/her name in the dialogue.
- Provide your own three quotes about your writing process.
- Your blog post should provide 12 total quotes (9 from the sources and 3 from you).
- Here are student samples of this assignment:
- Click here for a video explanation of this assignment.
Week 5
Blog Assignment #5
Blog Assignment #5
- Blog Title: Composing an Emotional Scene with Dialogue and Symbolism
- Blog Category: Narrative
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 5:
- Print out, read, and annotate:
- Use this document to help you explore the readings: Narrative Writing, Creative Nonfiction, and Memoir. You are not required to submit this document to your instructor.
- Write a 50-word introduction that connects an emotional theme or themes from My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou) and Hills Like White Elephants to a theme in your narrative scene.
- Compose a 450-word scene that shows the reader an emotional moment you shared with someone in your life.
- Please include dialogue. Use this article as a resource: How to Format Dialogue
- Please include at least one symbolic detail. Use this article as a resource: Symbolism
- Appeal to the five senses to animate the moment.
- Remember: Description + Action + Theme = Scene.
- Please include at least one photo that shows a concrete or symbolic aspect of your written scene.
- Here are student samples of the assignment:
- Click here for video explanation of the assignment.
Week 6
Blog Assignment #6
Blog Assignment #6
- Blog Title: Telling Myself a Different Story: A Memoir Counterfactual
- Blog Category: Narrative
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 6:
- Interpret these texts:
- Compose a 50-word introduction that provides the 1) focus of the blog post and 2) links to the texts and your narrative project web page.
- Compose a 450-word counterfactual to your blog #5 scene -- or -- to your memoir's main scene. In this counterfactual, I ask you to "imagine how things could have turned out differently" in your chosen scene. The counterfactual could emerge as a narrative scene that shows us the alternate experience, a reflection that tells us about the alternate experience, or a hybrid of both showing and telling (scene and reflection) of the alternate experience. To generate material for this assignment, consider the following:
- Explore the "what ifs" of your story (likely focusing on the action in your memoir). What if I hadn't done [finish thought]? What if I had acted this way instead? What if I had made this choice?
- What are the possible alternative endings to your story?
- How might you rewrite the dialogue or lack of dialogue in your story?
Week 7
Blog Assignment #7
Blog Assignment #7
- Blog Title: My Narrative Project: A Wizard-of-Oz Journey
- Blog Category: Narrative
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 7:
- Interpret the scenes in these video-text performances:
- Compose a 50-word introduction that provides the 1) focus of the blog post and 2) links to the three videos and your narrative project web page.
- Compose a 450-word rationale that responds to the following questions:
- How does your narrative allow you to travel into your brain (mind) then and now?
- How does your narrative allow you to travel into your heart (emotions) then and now?
- How does your narrative meet the nerve (high-stakes) element of meaningful storytelling?
- How does your narrative enable you to re-examine the power (agency) you have in authoring your life-story?
- What shapes our sense of identity: Life events or the stories we tell ourselves about life events?
Week 8
Blog Assignment #8
Blog Assignment #8
- Blog Title: Midterm Reflection: Composing GRITT
- Blog Category: Reflection
- Blog Text: Please compose notes for your vlog discussion in a Word or Google document and complete the following by the end of week 8:
- Interpret these texts:
- Write an introduction that provides the focus of the blog post and a link/embedded video to Reflective Writing. Please reference and spell out the GRITT acronym. Feel free to discuss how we enact GRITT to transform our relationship with writing.
- Compose a five-to-ten minute video reflection about your experiences in this class. Consider specific assignments, specific readings/films, specific conversations, and/or specific processes that helped you learn and grow.
- Please do not write about the merits of the course or your course grade. Rather, focus on these five components:
- Your Genre awareness. What is genre awareness? How has it changed in this course?
- Your Rhetorical awareness: What is rhetorical awareness? How has it changed in this course? Here are helpful resources: What is Rhetoric? / Exigence in Rhetoric (ThoughtCo.) / Rhetorical Purpose / Rhetorical Modes
- Your Identity as an author: How are your past academic writing experiences different from your present experiences with writing in this course? How are the past and present experiences the same?
- Your Theory of writing. How has this course impacted the way you define and value writing? Which composition concepts/terms do you most value?
- Your Transfer of writing to future writing situations. How do you plan to use your growing writing knowledge to compose texts in future academic and non-academic contexts?
Week 9: Spring Break
No blog posts due this week. Enjoy your break.
No blog posts due this week. Enjoy your break.
Week 10
Blog Assignment #9
Blog Assignment #9
- Blog Title: Our Discourse Community Identity: A Reflection
- Blog Category: Reflection
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 10:
- Compose a 50-word introduction that provides the 1) focus of the blog post and 2) links to the four texts.
- Compose a 450-word interpretation that responds to this question: How do these four texts speak to the spirit of our discourse community?
- Consider these genres for your interpretation: traditional analysis essay, found poem(s), writer's roundtable, quote collage, vlog reflection, argumentative essay, etc.
Week 11
Blog Assignment #10
Blog Assignment #10
- Blog Title: Research Project: Exploring a Problem
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Text: Please complete the following in a Word or Google document so you can copy and paste the content into your blog post at the end of week 11:
- Compose a 50-word introduction that provides the focus of the blog post and a link to your research project web page.
- Compose a 450-word post that responds to these questions:
- What is the topic I want to research?
- What is the primary source I will use to begin my research?
- Who does the topic impact the most?
- When did this topic emerge?
- Where (consider community) does this topic impact the most?
- Why does this topic exist?
- How does the topic make me feel (impact on your being)?
- How does the topic make me think (impact on your knowing)?
- How does the topic make me want to make change (impact on your doing)?
Week 12
Blog Assignment #11
Blog Assignment #11
- Blog Title: Week 12 Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc. Please include a link to your research project web page.
Week 13
Blog Assignment #12
Blog Assignment #12
- Blog Title: Week 11 Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc. Please include a link to your research project web page.
Week 14
Blog Assignment #13
Blog Assignment #13
- Blog Title: Week 12 Research Project: [insert original title]
- Blog Category: Research Project
- Blog Prompt: Write about your research project. Consider posting sections of the project, updates on research, annotating sources, questions you are struggling/succeeding in answering, comparisons to other research writing you have completed, impact on your life, overall reflections, writing goals, intrinsic goals, etc. Please include a link to your research project web page.
Week 15
Blog Assignment #14
Blog Assignment #14
- Blog Title: Final Reflection: Composing GRITT
- Blog Category: Reflection
- Blog Text: Please compose written text for your vlog discussion in a Word or Google document and complete the following:
- Interpret these texts:
- Write an introduction that provides the focus of the blog post, a link to blog post #8 (if applicable), and links to Reflective Writing and Genres in Academic Writing: Reflection
- Please reference and spell out the GRITT acronym. Feel free to discuss how we enact GRITT to transform our relationship with writing.
- Compose a five-to-ten minute video reflection about your experiences in this class. Consider specific assignments, specific readings/films, specific conversations, and/or specific processes that helped you learn and grow. You could begin or end this conversation by answering this question: What do you consider to be your signature growth experience as a writer in this course?
- Please do not write about the merits of the course or your course grade. Rather, focus on these five components:
- Your Genre awareness. What is genre awareness? How has it changed in this course? Please discuss the genres of your memoir and either your MLA research paper or your op-ed.
- Your Rhetorical awareness: What is rhetorical awareness? How has it changed in this course? How did you apply rhetorical awareness in your research project writing? Here are helpful resources: What is Rhetoric? / Exigence in Rhetoric (ThoughtCo.) / Rhetorical Purpose / Rhetorical Modes
- Your Identity as an author: How are your past academic writing experiences different from your present experiences with writing in this course? How are the past and present experiences the same? How has it changed in this course? Include a conversation about naming and establishing a relationship with your author-self. Also discuss some or all of the following: being a blogger/vlogger, web site author, memoirist, research author, reflective author, found poet, counter-narrative writer, etc.
- Your Theory of writing. How has this course impacted the way you define and value writing? Which composition concepts/terms do you most value? Include a one-sentence thesis or tag line that represents your theory.
- Your Transfer of writing to future writing situations. How do you plan to use your growing writing knowledge to compose texts in future academic and non-academic contexts? Include a discussion about your writing processes, writing mindset/author identity, genre awareness, and rhetorical awareness. Conclude the conversation with a future scene of writing to illustrate how you might enact writing transfer in a different context.
- Click here for a video explanation of this assignment.